Grace And Flavour: The Best Herbs To Grow

I Recently moved to a new garden; thankfully, it came with a house attached.

The two faces of Magdalene

An assistant emerges from Leonardo’s shadow, a pastel portrait defies its years and potters receive deserved accolades

Our flowers of Scotland

Two substantial estates demonstrate Scotland’s sporting and environmental potential

Remembering the New World

Carolside, The Borders The home of Mr and Mrs Anthony Foyle An enigmatic house on the Scottish Borders yields up unexpected connections with America and shines a light on 18th-century architectural practice, as Roger White explains

Give me one moment in time

Award-winning wildlife photographer Stephen Dalton explains his lifelong love of Nature and why, when it comes to capturing creatures on film, persistence and experimentation pay off

Flights of fantasy

The dodos, parrots and pelicans that grace the pages of our favourite books might seem comical, but they usually have some moral wisdom to share, believes Madeleine Silver

Future proof

The latest materials and technology can create homes of outstanding beauty and comfort

Freeze frame

Bryan’s Ground, Stapleton, Herefordshire Helena Attlee recalls how a fresh fall of snow helped the then new owners of this famous Arts-and-Crafts garden to understand the underlying geometry of the land and so begin the property’s restoration

Crowning glory

Matthew Dennison explores the life of the Dancing Marquess of Anglesey, whose penchant for sparkle led to him owning one of the most magnificent tiaras of all time

All dried out

Already dead and lauded for being so, dried flowers are enjoying a stylish resurgence, discovers Hetty Lintell

Rupert Uloth's Favourite Painting

The Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers chooses a Cecil Aldin scene that holds family connections for him

Beautiful Britain: Blackdown Hills

Kate Green highlights the quiet charms of one of the least-known West Country AONBs

Life in Lilliput

In a room in West Sussex, magic is being created from pieces of cardboard, plastic bottles, pen lids, crayons and glue. Mark Palmer meets William Davies, film animator turned miniature-home maker

That'll do, pug

Game and gutsy, you dismiss the jovial little pug as a lapdog at your peril, finds Flora Watkins, although do beware the snoring

The urban village

Once a swathe of bucolic landscape desired by London’s elite, Hackney is now one of the city’s most cosmopolitan and diverse boroughs, finds Carla Passino

THE CAPITAL ACCORDING TO...Jackson Boxer

Rob Crossan talks to the dynamic chef behind Brunswick House Café and Orasay about custard tarts and feeding London’s masses

History and modernity

A house that might have vanished beneath London’s spreading suburbs has been lovingly returned from institutional use and forms the heart of an estate within the capital. John Goodall reports

Dancing in the moonlight

Long thought to influence our behaviour, as well as that of the sea and all flora and fauna, the mystical power of the moon continues to exert a hold on us, observes Jeremy Hobson

Nanny knows best

Norland nannies have cared for the children of the great and good for almost 130 years, but behind the white gloves and starched uniforms lies a most progressive institution, finds Flora Watkins

DIG DEEP

The team behind Europe’s largest construction project is building new tunnels beneath London’s roads every week, but another group is working with them, too. Harry Wallop talks to the Crossrail archaeologists about woolly mammoths and Roman roads

Say Yes To The Old Dress

Our forebears did it out of necessity, but we are returning to their ways out of a desire to preserve the planet for future generations. Claire Jackson investigates the return of our make-do-and-mend mentality

Fortified planting

Noel Kingsbury meets the maker of a remarkable coastal garden that combines the use of native species with more familiar garden plants to great effect

Wee three kings

We are all familiar with the diminutive wren, yet its tiny fellow kinglets the goldcrest and firecrest are, perhaps understandably, often overlooked. Ian Morton studies our smallest birds

The winners are…

For the second year, Historic Houses and COUNTRY LIFE joined forces with Neptune to find great examples of new kitchens in old spaces. Last week, John Sims-Hilditch, co-founder of Neptune, announced the joint winners and a runner-up, all of whom have found highly inventive solutions to the challenge of creating a 21st-century kitchen in a listed building

Beautiful Britain

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

At your convenience

It might be the smallest room in the house and the butt of many a joke, but it is surely one of the most revealing. Bronwen Riley investigates the smartest loos in the land

Seeing is believing

Exquisitely crafted from hand-dyed silks and velvets, Anne Tomlin’s uncannily realistic flower pieces possess a beauty that will never fade, discovers Natasha Goodfellow

Finding new purpose

The re-use of architectural materials and elements has a long and surprising history that’s all too easy to overlook, as John Goodall explains

Baroque delights

A major restoration project, winner of a Georgian Group award in 2019, has revived a magnificent house inspired by the architecture of Baroque Rome. John Martin Robinson reports

A work of history

Two homes with substantial stories to tell prepare to hit the market in North Yorkshire and Devon